Days Until Heartbreak/Faith
i really do have faith in you and i hope that you will love me too part thirty of Days Until Heartbreak I know I shouldn't admit this but Shineblossom's words shook me to the core. I always knew that the Clan is going to be a formidable opponent, but I have always been certain that we could overpower them. But what if they are stronger? One thing I know for sure is that we can't give up and we have to somehow to be stronger. We can't fall to the Clan because then our legacy, whatever it is, will disappear. We have to have faith in ourselves. As I gaze at the sparring cats in front of me, I can only imagine what will happen when we get onto the battlefield. Images of the rogues - or even the Clan cats - laying on the floor, bloodied and very, very dead. Could we stop a carnage like that from happening? No. The Clan had to be obliterated. "Strike harder!" I yowl at one of the toms, "You need to practice like you mean it! This is war we're talking about, not a simple match against our old enemies." As I continue to supervise the training session, I can only think about the last words Shineblossom had whispered to me before the patrol had left. The image of her eyes - one marred and one still bright and malevolent - is imprinted in my mind. The way she stared at me like she could see right into my soul; like my flaws were just right there, out in the open, and that she could just rip out my heart would just one sentence. "He doesn't love you, Sari, he loves ''me."'' And even though I've been trying to convince myself with the vivid memories of Ice and I curling up in his den, I can't help but wonder what if she's right? ~ Shineblossom almost wished she could have spilled the truth to Sari. She wanted that rogue of a she-cat to understand and feel the pain. Perhaps those last words would be suffice. Plus, Shineblossom was going to kill her soon anyways. And then I'll have ''him all for myself.'' She thought with satisfaction. Although he's nearly as insufferable as that she-cat. Shineblossom grumbled to herself. She flicked her tail as she dug her claws into the dirt. Plus, if she didn't like him as much as she did at first, she could always do what she always does to her enemies. Kill him. Soon, Ice, soon you'll realize you and Sari are not the most valuable cats in the world. ~ I find it unnerving how these toms act like we're their best friends or something. It's as if they can't notice the hostility that still rises between them and the she-cats who come every day to practice with them. I can't believe how oblivious they are. No wonder toms are so useless and incompetent. Today is merely a battle plan that we've made up. We're trying to practice it and make it work, except the two sides are finding it quite hard to cooperate. "Dew, stand over here! Um...Talon is it? Can you stand by Dew? No, he's not going to ruin your life, Dew, he's going to make it better by helping you complete this battle plan that might defeat the Clan one day. Hey you! Clovis or something? I told you to stand by Firefly. She's not going to bite you. FIREFLY I SAID DON'T BITE HIM." I let out a loud, frustrated groan as everything shatters. Aura sighs, "This is going terrifically," she mutters, "I thought you said you could control them?" "I could if they weren't being idiots." I sink towards the ground. The silver she-cat's whiskers twitched. "I think we really need to get our cats to accept the fact that we're going to be fighting with the toms, not against them." "Tell me about it," I sink further to the ground. "She-cats!" Aura's voice silences the angry murmuring down below, "Obviously we haven't made it clear but we are here today, working with the toms, to complete a mission. This is necessary for our survival, as we need the toms' help to defeat the Clan. I know you don't want to cooperate, but I'm asking this of you right now. Please help us make this happen." "Wow," I smirk, "I never knew you could spew speeches on the spot." She nudges me affectionally, "You could too." I shrug. "More like yell at everyone for being dense." She purrs and I do too. Frost shouts up at us. "Why can't we just do separate formations? There's no point in having us together. We could just do different parts of the plan!" "It's more balanced this way," I point out, "We're stronger than the toms so if we're on separate sides, they'll be too weak to attack." I catch Pearl smothering a giggle as the tom next to her looks miffed. Some toms are weak, I think instantly. Dew scowls and she glares at Talon, who nervously scoots away from her. Hawk takes this all in with calm eyes. He seems to be the leader of the group of cats who inform the toms about everything. I guess you could say he represents the toms too. "This is a disaster," he observes, "I don't think this is working out very well." "You think?" I mutter. "Okay let's try that again! The sooner we accomplish this, the sooner this alliance can be broken!" I yowl, "Come on, do Formation A!" It's fascinating to see them transform into a fighting unit. The cats formed a semi-circle that would wrap around the Clan. Then, as the cats seem to only see the middle section of the semi-circle, the outsides would come around and strike fast and hard. "Faster!" I shout to Frost, "You have to make sure you can do it before the Clan realizes it's a trap." "Let's try Formation B," Aura murmurs, "That one is trickier." I frown and glance down at the training cats. We had devised this formation just a few days ago, although I'm not even too sure how I'll figure it out. Aura sees my concentrated face and she slips down towards the camp. "I'll leave you to solve it then, I need to see how Leaf's supplies are going. ~ There she is! The cat stared down at the cat below her, I wish I could go down and meet her but I don't think she'd like it. Plus I'd probably have to fight in that dreadful war and I definitely don't want to do ''that. She hopped to the next tree and grinned to herself. She definitely loved the looks of this cat. She stared adoringly down into the camp where the cat she had been spying on strutted through with authority. ''Cute. She giggled to herself, I wonder if she's funny too. She saw the cat reprimanding the other one - the one with all the leaves and plants. She looked so serious that she had to smother yet another giggle. I definitely like her. Maybe sometime after they win the war I can meet her! ''She thought as she started to bound away, ''Yeah, I like that idea. ~ "Now tell me," Shineblossom's eyes glittered as she stared at the two new rogues. "What are their secrets? I want all of them. If you can help the Clan defeat those villianous rogues, I will personally convince Ivystar to grant you to be high-ranked warriors." The she-cat narrowed her eyes and started talking. "From what was happening when I had escaped, they all hated Sari. They harbored some sort of grudge against her for being the devil she is. If she's in charge, you should be able to defeat the rogues easily. You just turn the rest of them against her and you're done." Shineblossom's eyes gleamed. "Hm, so I'll have to keep that insufferable she-cat a little longer than I want to." The she-cat nodded, "You'll have to kill her second-in-command then." The pale she-cat licked her white paw. "Why? Is she completely loyal and hare-brained? I'd like to keep as many slaves as possible. Ivystar is allowing me to run the war the way I'' want it to be, and when I defeat those sorry rogues I'm going to chain each of them to the ground." "She's the reasonable leader of the two of them," the she-cat argued, "Yes, she'll be a fine prisoner and I'd love to see her humiliated, but she's the one who might change the tide of the war. She has the power, and the brains to do so. No, Sari needs to be the only leader." "Which reminds me," Shineblossom bared her teeth in satisfaction, "I'll chain Sari herself to me so she can be ''my slave." The she-cat twitched her whiskers in approval but didn't say anything. Shineblossom swished her tail. "Hm, so what was her name?" "Aura." "Aura, Aura, Aura," Shineblossom stood gracefully, "I'll find her and kill her. Then, if what you say is true, we'll win this war." The she-cat nodded. "Trust me, I've been on their side before, I know how they work." Shineblossom smiled in a cruel way. "Thank you, Kayli, I'll appreciate this." And then she padded away into the dark. ~ It wasn't long before I heard a scream coming from the distance. I hiss and I command everyone to stay there and I race towards the noise. Immediately I regret not bringing backup. "Aura?" I call out. It sounded like her shrill shriek but I'm not sure. I burst into a clearing to see Shineblossom ready to slash her claws down. I let out a howl and barrel into the Clan cat. "Get off her," I snap. Aura is unconscious and there's blood oozing out of her wounds. I hope she'll be okay. I whirl around and glare at Shineblossom. "You had the nerve to come in so deep into our territory. You obviously wanted to kill Aura. So why? What's your problem with her?" Shineblossom's eyes were unfathomable, "To weaken you of course," she snarls. But I can tell there's more to it. She lunges for me before I can comprehend what it is. I duck and lash out with my paw. It strikes her stomach and she groans. She pulls herself away, blood dripping from the ghastly wound. "I'll get you back next time, Sari," she hisses, "and this time you'll all be dead." She staggers away and I watch her go. "Leaf!" I yowl, "Get your sorry tail over here!" Leaf appears almost instantly, "What happened?" she gasped, "I'll get the herbs." She darts away before I can say anything else. I dig my claws into the dirt. I had to stay faithful to our plan. But this might change everything. It's obvious someone is working against me and Shineblossom was definitely targeting Aura. Change of plan, I'll need to be taking over the leadership and make sure Aura is always safe.